2 11 November 2008

News:

The European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Commission have issued a draft 'SEPA Action Plan', which would set a timetable of concrete actions to be taken by stakeholders in order to make the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) happen by a defined end date. The 15-page Action Plan, which has not been made public, was issued to SEPA stakeholders on 25 November, who have three weeks to respond before a final document is submitted to the Economic and Financial Affairs Council of the EU in early 2009.

Linden Lab, creators and operators of the Second Life virtual world, expressed concern about China's tax on individual income realised through trading in virtual currencies, issued by the Chinese State Administration of Taxation in October. "We are monitoring the situation", said Clare Rees, European Marketing Director for Linden Lab, at the Digital Money Summit, which took place on 25 November in London. "It is a concern, however China has its own virtual worlds and is not one of our major markets".

Barclaycard UK has issued one million contactless cards since it first began issuing them in September 2007, it said on 27 November.

Features:

The Payment Services Directive (the 'PSD'), which will be implemented in the UK on 1 November 2009 by the Payment Services Regulations 2008 (the 'Regulations'), will have a significant impact on money remitters. The UK Government had generally thought that around 64 businesses would need to become authorised as payment institutions with the UK's Financial Services Authority (the 'FSA') but money remitter associations in the UK now consider that the number will be higher, perhaps between 100 and 200 businesses in the UK alone. On top of this are a larger number of small money remitters that will need to be registered with the FSA along with thousands of agents. In addition to authorisation and registration requirements, the PSD will, for many money remitters, introduce for the first time prudential, capital and conduct of business rules requirements. As a result, the PSD will be a significant challenge for many money remitters.

The Romanian government has launched a Virtual Payments Office to facilitate payments to public authorities as part of its recently launched e-government strategy. Alexandru Rusu, a Partner at bpv Grigorescu, examines legislation put in place by the Romanian government in the move towards e-government, and the payment options available to both individuals and businesses.

Hong Kong's Octopus card and London's Oyster card were quick to exploit the advantages of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) to launch contactless ticketing. Dave Birch, a Director at Consult Hyperion, examines the evolution of the two systems and the lessons that banks and payment providers can learn from their experiences.

China's State Administration of Taxation recently announced a tax levy on individual income made through virtual currency transactions, despite a February 2007 ban on the trading of virtual currency. Ping Chu, an Attorney at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, discusses the use of virtual currency in China, the State concerns that led to the 2007 ban and issues that the September tax has raised.

In June, the Competition Commission published a 'Provisional Findings Report', which identified a lack of competition within the Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) market. Suzanne MacDonald and Nicola Kingaby, of TLT Solicitors, highlighted those issues in June's edition of E-Finance & Payments Law & Policy. In this article, they examine the solutions to these issues proposed in the Competition Commission's 'Provisional Decision on Remedies', published 13 November.

Use of ATMs and e-banking is replacing traditional withdrawals from current accounts in Nigeria, according to the results of the 2008 Nigeria e-banking customer survey, conducted by Intermarc Consulting Ltd. Adeyinka Adeyemi, Managing Director of Intermarc Consulting, outlines the results of the survey which has been expanded in 2008 to cover not just individual customers, but also private and public sector banking customers.